Hook-setting fishing rod holder

ABSTRACT

Disclosed is a member establishing the attitude of a fishing rod attached to it, the member being held in a substantially horizontal position by the over-center position of a toggle assembly. A trigger lever, actuated by a relatively light pull on the fishing line, nudges the toggle assembly back across center when the line is pulled to snap the member, and hence the tip of the fishing rod sharply upwardly. The mechanism is distinguished by the fact that triggering or release occurs without the necessity of exerting a force large enough to overcome that exerted by the over-center toggle spring.

United States atent n 1 Atkins, Sr.

[s41 HOOK-SETTING FISHING ROD HOLDER Y [76] Inventor: Vern A. Atkins,Sr. 4118 N.

Sheridan, Indianapolis, Ind. 46226 [22] Filed: Nov. 16, 1970 I 21App1.No.:89,635

52 U.S.Cl. ..43/1s [51 Int. Cl. ..A01k 97/00 [58] FieldofSearch ..43/15,16

[56] References Cited I UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,986,834 6/1961 Irwin......43/15 2,9l8;746 12/1959 I-Iamrick.... 2,964,868 12/1960 Bennett..43/l5 FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 1,378,920 10/1964 France ..43/l5Primary Examinerbouis G. Mancene Assistant Exar'ninerDaniel J LeachAttorney-Woodard, Weikart, Emhardt & Naughton [57] ABSTRACT Disclosed isa member establishing the attitude of a fishing rod attached to it, themember being held in a substantially horizontal position by theover-center position of a toggle assembly. A trigger lever, actuated bya relatively light pull on the fishing line, nudges the toggle assemblyback across center when the line is pulled to snap the member, and hencethe tip of the fishing rod sharply upwardly. The mechanism isdistinguished by the fact that triggering or release occurs without thenecessity of exerting a force large enough to overcome that exerted bythe over-center toggle spring.

2 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures PATENTEUHARZY I975 INVENTOR. VERN A. ATKINS,5R.

BY wmM,z1/M,M; Mm

ATTORNEYS HOOK-SETTING FISHING ROD HOLDER BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONFishing rod holders which utilize toggle actuated mechanism forautomatically setting thehook after a fish has pulled on the fishingline are not unknown in the prior art. The structures disclosed in U.S.Pat. Nos.

2,986,834 and 3,451,155 are typical of these prior art directed forceexerted by the spring while the mechanism is in cocked position. Therelatively strong pull on the line necessary for tripping, a requirementinherent in these prior art structures, greatly diminishes theadaptability of these rod holders for various types of fish and variousfishing techniques.

The structure of the present invention utilizes a lever member, moved bya relatively light line tug, for nudging one element of'the. togglemechanism back across center to release the force stored in the overcenter spring when the over-center linkage is cocked. This relatively largeforce stored in the over-center spring is released to whip the pole tipupwardly by movement of the line-actuated triggering lever, and theforce necessary to provide triggering movement of this lever is far lessthan the force exerted by the overcenter spring in cocked position. Theover-center linkage, triggering lever and pole gripping components ofthe complete assembly are all of simple configuration and can beeconomically-manufactured. The assembly utilizes a minimum number ofcomponent parts, and the triggering force can be simply adjusted to makethe device adaptable to varied fishing techniques and to the behaviorcharacteristics of various types of game fish.

BRIEF. DESCRIPTION OF TI-IE DRAWINGS 7 of the apparatus shown in FIG. 1.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring in FIG. 1, thehook-setting fishing rod holder assembly includes an upright supportmember 10 which may have telescoping fit with a socket member 10aadapted to be driven into the ground adjacent the body of water in whichfishing is to be carried out. It will be understood that the supportmember 10 might also take the form of a member adapted along its lengthfor rigid clamping to the side of a boat. Pivotally connected to thesupport member 10 and extending transversely to it is a rod holderelement 1 1, the pivotal connection of the rod holder element beingintermediate its ends at 12.

The elongated holder element 11, as may best be seen in FIG. 4, carriesspaced clamps 13 which are adapted to detachably accommodate aconventional fishing rod 14, the rod 14 having a conventional reel 16from which fishing line 17 extends along the rod.

Extending diagonally between the holder element 1 1 and the supportmember 10 are toggle members 19 and 21. The toggle link 19 is pivotallyconnected at 19a to the rod holder element 11 and the toggle member 21is pivotally connected at 21a to the support member 10, the adjacentends of..,the toggle members 19 and 21 being pivotally connectedtogether at 22. A resilient means taking the form of the tension spring23 extends between the toggle members 19 and 21.

Referring to FIG. 3, an eccentrically mounted disc 24 provides anabutment surface at its marginal edge against which the end 19b 'of thetoggle member 19 rests. The position of the adjustable disc 24 thusprovides an abutment which defines the over-center cocked position ofthe toggle members, such position of the toggle members being shown inboth FIGS. 1 and 3. It will be understood that by varying the positionof the disc 24', because of its eccentric mounting, the over-center,cocked position of the toggle member 19 with respect to the togglemember 21 may be varied, a further position of the toggle members beyondthe over-center position being illustrated in broken lines in FIG. 3.With the toggle members in their position of FIG. 1, the energy storedin the tension spring 23 as the toggle members are moved to thisposition serves to hold the toggle members in cocked position with theaxis of pivotal mounting 22 slightly above a line joining the axes ofpivotal mountings 21a and 19a. With the toggle members in this position,the rod holder element 11, and the fishing rod accommodated on it, arein a slightly inclined position as shown in FIG. 1.

The means for tripping or triggering the toggle members takes the formof a trigger member or lever 31 which is pivotally mounted at 31a to therod holder element, thepivot mounting 31a being relatively closelyadjacent to the pivotal mounting 19a for the toggle member 19. The upperend of the lever 31 is notched as indicated at 3117 so as to accommodatethe fishing line 17. The lower end of the lever 31 rests against theside margin of the toggle member 19.

In operation, with the assembly components in their positions of FIG. 1,a sharp pull or jerk on the line 17, as occurs when a fish strikes thebait or lure, will move the lever 31 counter-clockwise about its pivot31a, the lower end of the lever 31 thus nudging the toggle member 19,and its pivotal connection 22, back through center, whereupon thetension spring 23 releasesits stored energy to snap the toggle members19 and 21 into their actuated position shown in FIG. 2. This sharplytilts upwardly the rod holder element 11 and sharply elevates the tip ofthe fishing rod, setting the hook, the spring 23 thereafter serving toresist any subsequent lowering of the rod tip end by pulling on line 17.

It should be noted that the pivotal mounting 31a of the trigger member31 is disposed so that a substantial mechanical advantage exists for therelatively light line pull needed to move the lower end of the lever 31sufficiently to displace the toggle member 19, the area of contact ofthe lower end of the lever 31 with the toggle member 19 being relativelyremote from the pivot 22 and close to the pivot 19a. The pull on line17, necessary to trip the toggle rnechanism,does not work against theforce exerted by spring 23, that is, spring 23 need not be evenmomentarily overcome in order to trip the toggle mechanism. Theapparatus has a minimum of components and these are relatively simple inconfiguration, the assembly thus being capable of economic manufacture.

lclaim:

1. A hook-settingfishing rod holder assembly comprising a supportmember, a rod holder element extending transversely to and pivotallysupported intermediate its ends on said support member and adapted todetachably accommodate a fishing rod in generally parallel relation withsaid holder element, pivotally joined toggle members extendingdiagonally between and pivotally joined at their outer ends to said rodholder element and said support member respectively, an abutmentadjacent the pivotally joined adjacent ends of said toggle members andadapted to be engaged by one of the toggle members to determine theovercenter cocked position of the toggle members, resilient means actingon said toggle members and capable when said toggle members are movedthrough center from their cocked position of sharply releasing theenergy stored in the resilient means when said toggle members are incocked position to thereby snap said toggle member outer ends towardeach other and to thus sharply tilt said rod holder element withrelation to said support member, and a trigger member on said rod holderelement adapted to be moved by the, fishing line carried on the fishingrod accommodated on said rod holder element, said trigger elementengaging one of said toggle members to move it over-center from itscocked position and thereby release the stored energy of said resilientmeans to sharply tilt said rod holder element and the fishing rodaccommodated thereon.

2. A fishing rod holder as claimed in claim 1 in which said triggermember takes the form of a lever pivotally supported intermediate itsends on said rod holder element closely adjacent the pivotal connectionof the toggle link to the rod holder element, with one end of said leveraccommodating the fishing line and the other end engaging said rodholder element attached toggle member.

1. A hook-setting fishing rod holder assembly comprising a supportmember, a rod holder element extending transversely to and pivotallysupported intermediate its ends on said support member and adapted todetachably accommodate a fishing rod in generally parallel relation withsaid holder element, pivotally joined toggle members extendingdiagonally between and pivotally joined at their outer ends to said rodholder element and said support member respectively, an abutmentadjacent the pivotally joined adjacent ends of said toggle members andadapted to be engaged by one of the toggle members to determine theover-center cocked position of the toggle members, resilient meansacting on said toggle members and capable when said toggle members aremoved through center from their cocked position of sharply releasing theenergy stored in the resilient means when said toggle members are incocked position to thereby snap said toggle member outer ends towardeach other and to thus sharply tilt said rod holder element withrelation to said support member, and a trigger member on said rod holderelement adapted to be moved by the fishing line carried on the fishingrod accommodated on said rod holder element, said trigger elementengaging one of said toggle members to move it over-center from itscocked position and thereby release the stored energy of said resilientmeans to sharply tilt said rod holder element and the fishing rodaccommodated thereon.
 2. A fishing rod holder as claimed in claim 1 inwhich said trigger member takes the form of a lever pivotally supportedintermediate its ends on said rod holder element closely adjacent thepivotal connection of the toggle link to the rod holder element, withone end of said lever accommodating the fishing line and the other endengaging said rod holder element attached toggle member.